by Texas Homesteader ~
If you have pets, chances are at some time you’ll deal with pet stains on the carpet. I’ve found a homemade carpet-cleaning solution that works better for us than the professional carpet cleaners.
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Pet Stains On Carpet
When we adopted our Mini-Schnauzer Bailey several years ago, we had no idea she was plagued by painful bladder stones.
I’m happy to say surgery to remove her bladder stones was a success. But her bladder-stone condition had caused her to relieve herself often in the house. And her urine was sometimes tinged with blood. A carpet-stain nightmare!
Pet Stains Reappear After Being Cleaned
Of course we initially tried to spot-clean the pet stains ourselves with various purchased carpet cleaners.
But even rinsing & blotting the cleaner out of the carpet to the best of our ability, the soap residue apparently attracted dirt over the following days until the stain magically ‘reappeared‘.
Professional Carpet Cleaner Did Not Remove Stain
So we hired a carpet cleaning company to come give the stain a professional cleaning.
They spot-treated the urine stain first with a concentrated cleaner. Then they cleaned the whole room with their high-powered commercial machine and a strong chemical-laden cleaner.
Although the stain lightened initially, it came back several days later. Soap residue again? Hummm…
Cleaning Our Carpet Ourselves
So I went looking for a better carpet cleaning solution. We have a small *Bissell SpotClean Machine for spot-treating carpet stains.
It works by spraying cleaning solution onto your carpet and then sucking out all the liquid back out of the carpet into another receptacle.
But instead of buying commercial carpet cleaning solutions to go into the machine, I decided to go looking for a less toxic carpet cleaner.
I knew I didn’t want to use soap because, well, it keeps attracting dirt after the stain has been removed. Heck, even when hiring a professional carpet cleaner!
Homemade Carpet Cleaner Solution
So I decided to use a carpet cleaner recipe I found on wikihow online. This homemade carpet cleaner solution ingredients were:
White vinegar
Salt
Water
Oddly enough their recipe also called for essential oil in the ingredients.
But although essential oil would smell nice, I can’t imagine that adding oil in any quantity would be good for a carpet stain. So I omitted it.
Any subtle smell of vinegar dissipates when it dries, so I wasn’t concerned about that. The only ingredients I used were white vinegar, salt & water.
Homemade Carpet Cleaning Solution For Pet Stains
We used our Bissell machine and our homemade carpet-cleaning liquid to remove the pet stain. But I wondered, would that stain magically reappear yet again?
To test that oddity, I waited a few months before sharing this post with you. But as you can see in the photo below that the stain is still gone, gone, GONE! Yea!
Here’s my disclaimer. I’m just sharing with y’all an inexpensive solution I was able to make myself that worked beautifully for a pet stain on our carpet using a small spot cleaner machine. The carpet in our bedroom is a light color and there was no damage or fading to our carpet as a result of using my homemade cleaner.
But your carpet may be made with different materials and/or dyes. So please test this on an inconspicuous spot first to make sure it doesn’t fade or damage your carpet! Then proceed at your own risk. M’kay?
Loving Our Homestead Dog
Bailey has been a blessing to us. And she’s a wonderful companion here on the Homestead.
We’ve learned a lot about pet ownership during the time she was with us. You can Read All Our Pet Posts Here.
Simple Homemade Pet Stain Carpet Cleaner
Here’s the recipe I used, and it’s the only pet stain spot-cleaning solution I’ll ever use from now on. Simple ingredients from my own kitchen to replace an expensive plastic jug of chemical cleaners?
Yes please!
Did you make this Carpet Cleaning Solution? To help it show on internet searches, please rate the recipe in your comment below!
MYO Carpet-Cleaning Solution For Our Bissell SpotClean Machine
When we discovered pet stains on our carpet we hired a professional carpet cleaner, but the stains returned. Using this simple homemade carpet cleaner solution removed the stains for good! #TexasHomesteader
Ingredients
- 1 cup distilled white vinegar
- 2 cups warm water
- 2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
-
Warm 2 cups water for 1 minute in microwave, add 2 teaspoons salt and stir to dissolve & add 1 cup vinegar.
-
Pour into Bissell reservoir (marked) and clean carpet
Recipe Notes
Bissell Carpet Cleaner Instructions:
Add cleaner mixture to Bissell reservoir and attach it to the machine.
Spray mixture from Bissell wand onto carpet stain and let sit for 15-20 minutes.
Then using the bristles on the wand, begin scrubbing until no stain remains.
Finally, activate suction which removes water & cleaning solution from carpet.
When finished, turn fan on to expedite carpet drying.
~TxH~
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I’ve heard why to add essential oil: since pets have a better sense of smell than we do, they can still smell the areas they have urinated on carpets, even after they are cleaned with vinegar and salt, and people can smell them. But if you add an essential oil (usually a citrus one, like orange essential oil), it will mask the smell of the urine to your pet, and they won’t come back and re-pee in the same area.
Thanks for weighing in Matthew. After Bailey’s bladder stones were removed she no longer had accidents in the house. But now that she’s an old dog, accidents are once again creeping up. Poor girl. ~TxH~
This is a miracle recipe. I have a husky and whenever he gets nervous or excited he has an accident. So you can imagine our carpet gets stains. Thank goodness for professional carpet cleaners but this is good for when I don’t want to call in the big guns!
I know what you mean. Our Mini Schnauzer is old and has accidents from time to time. This formula works great for our carpets. ~TxH~
I have a Bissell spot cleaner machine and I’ve used this formula in it to clean pet stains on our carpet. There were a couple of places that required a second treatment, but after that the stains were gone.
This is so helpful. We recently adopted a dog and are trying our best to train her but it’s hard and she still occasionally relieves herself…everywhere but the tile or hardwood. Our carpet has taken a beating. I have been hearing the same about stains reappearing with soapy residue that carpet cleaners use. we used that is similar to your homemade recipe that finally did the trick. If we have to deal with anymore stain I am going to give your recipe a try on my own. Thanks!
Yes Lindsay, I think taking soap out of the cleaning solution was key in our success. The stain is still gone, months later. Yea! ~TxH~